


Of Gods and Monsters, Fragment e1,1: Mid-February, 2077

by bzarcher, solarbird



Series: Of Gods and Monsters [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Background Relationships, Conditioning, Fucked Up, Gen, Memory Alteration, Oasis (Overwatch), Talon Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Talon Emily, Talon Emily (Overwatch), Talon Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Talon!Emily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 08:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14052756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher, https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarbird/pseuds/solarbird
Summary: Wherein Tracer's wife Emily "Oilliphéist" Gardner builds a present for Angela Ziegler, to replace something she broke, and knows she will never need to break again.





	Of Gods and Monsters, Fragment e1,1: Mid-February, 2077

**Author's Note:**

> _Of Gods and Monsters_ is a side-step/alternate-ending sequel to [_The Armourer and the Living Weapon_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12703794), told in a series of eddas, sagas, fragments, texts, and cantos, all of which serve their individual purposes. Eddas and Sagas appear late Sunday/early Monday, fragments, texts, and standalone cantos appear Thursday and/or Friday. To follow the story as a whole, [please subscribe to the series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/972024).

“Angela?”

Emily poked her head in through the doorway of Angela’s renovated research lab, at her institute, in Oasis. The institute remained in operation, dedicated to the non-Talon-relevant research the doctor still enjoyed. About half the staff had chosen to remain, waiting, while she was… away… including Dr. Masri, but not, sadly, Dr. Ngcobo.

She had rewarded the loyal, upon her return, and most handsomely. Punishments - if any - for the disloyal could wait.

“Emily?” she replied, leaning to look towards the voice. “What are you doing all the way over here?”

The blue armourer laughed. “Well, y’know how I am - I finish something, I want to show the person I made it for, right away.”

“Oh! I’m excited to see it! I’m just working out an experiment plan, let me finish this paragraph.” She typed a bit more, nodded - _that will do_ \- and sent the draft to her laboratory heads for comment. _We'll have to bring in more staff, we lost a good number of talented people. But that can wait._ She turned back to her stepdaughter's wife. “Have you made me a pistol? Seems a waste of your talents, really. I never pull mine, not if I can help it.”

“Nah, I know you - it’s not that.” Oilliphéist stepped around the doorway, revealing a metal cylinder. She tapped the end, grinning as it extended in her hand, a set of fine interlinking ring segments forming themselves into a series of helixes, expanding the cylinder into a Caduceus staff, glowing with hardlight. "I hope you like it - after what happened to your old one, I thought... well.” She huffed, a little. “I just wanted to make sure the shaft was reinforced a bit, and then this happened."

“You do get carried away. I know the feeling.” Angela glided over, hoisting the replacement Oilliphéist had made appreciatively. _Quite light_ , she thought. _But still an… appropriate bit of heft._

"I had to do what I did, but I'm sorry I had to do it. I won’t need to, anymore, so... I built you one even I couldn't break." She grinned.

"You’re so thoughtful, sometimes, do you know that?" Angela said, smiling, gliding out the door, down the hall, and over into the two-storey reception lobby, floating up, and spinning the new staff around flashily as Emily followed, jogging, on foot. " _Very_ nice. Extremely well weighted - as I’d expect, from you. It appears to be configured to function identically to my old one...“

“Yeah,” Emily nodded. “I kept the medical components unchanged. I’m a weapons engineer, not a doctor.”

“Does it collapse, or was that you demonstrating the the final assembly step?” Angela flew back down, almost to the floor. “I wouldn’t want to…”

“It will - touch it here, here, and here” - Emily pointed at pad locations, separated enough to prevent accidental triggering - “but it’ll only go down so far as it can do safely with whatever you’ve built inside.”

“Perfect.” The doctor checked where suspected nanites would be loaded, and found the correct ports. “Yes, there they are. Thank you!” She tapped it on the floor, and hardlight blades extended, as she’d anticipated. “It’s quite attractive - it will make a lovely backup device, to let me carry more nanites in the field. Possibly other medical gear, as well. Elegant, _and_ useful. Well done!"

"Backup device?" Emily said, a little confused.

"You didn't think I'd let _that_ happen twice, did you?" She waved her right hand, a golden aura appearing around it. "I no longer _require_ a staff."

**Author's Note:**

> To follow this story, [subscribe to the series via this link](https://archiveofourown.org/series/972024), rather than to the individual work.


End file.
